11.09.26 SPEND LESS - Buy Used / The Dash Cam Difference

Why Secondhand Shopping Is Skyrocketing & $20 Device Every Driver Needs in Their Car Clark digs into two essential ways you can keep more money in your pocket today: the booming world of secondhand shopping and the ultimate tool to protect yourself on the road. With household costs rising, buying "pre-loved" items — from Facebook Marketplace furniture to luxury goods—has become a top strategy for 81% of Americans to save cash and cut down on waste. Also, Clark explains why every driver needs a dash cam, even if it's just a $20 model. Plus, Christa shares your #AskClark questions and Clark gives his take. All this and more on the November 9, 2026, episode of The Clark Howard Show. Submit your questions: Ask Clark. Secondhand - Hands Down!: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Dash Cams: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Why secondhand shopping is booming for Americans⁠ 9 Things You Should Always Buy Used - Clark Howard⁠⁠ How To Open a Roth IRA 6 Things You May Not Know About Target Date Funds - Clark Howard How To Improve Your Credit Score in 5 Key Areas - Clark Howard Why Clark Says Everyone Should Have a Dash Cam Consumer Reports - Home Security Cameras - Eufy Video Doorbell C31 Amazon - Tapo 2K+ Wired or Battery Powered Smart Video Doorbell 5 Best Places To Buy Pet Medicines - Clark Howard Clark.com resources: Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Host Thanksgiving with industry-leading quality standards from Whole Foods Market. There are no antibiotics in their meat department, ever, so carve up turkey and spiral cut ham with peace of mind. Shop organic sides like stuffing mix and cranberry sauce from 365 brand. And guess what? All their delectable pies are made with no high fructose corn syrup. Gourmet Thanksgiving flavors with the quality you want, only at Whole Foods Market.

• 0:29Speaker 01

  This episode is brought to you by Netflix. Thanksgiving football starts a day early this year with the NFL's first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game. A total marquee NFC matchup. The Green Bay Packers take on the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in a primetime showdown. More football, more action, and a head start on one of the best weekends of the NFL season. Watch Packers versus Rams live on Netflix Wednesday, November 25th at 8:00 PM Eastern, 5:00 PM Pacific.

• 1:03Speaker 02

  I'm so glad you're with us here on the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. In a recent Clark Stinks, a thrift store owner wrote in to tell me about how I had neglected to talk about what great deals there are in thrift stores. And he's so right. And there's data to back up what he said. And this trend, let me tell you, is your wallet's friend. And a new report is that Americans, one of the ways Americans are pivoting is they're buying all kinds of stuff used.

• 1:46Speaker 02

  I mean, way beyond categories that people may have even thought about in the past. And over 80% of Americans now buy secondhand goods. Not for everything they buy, but they buy a lot of things secondhand. And this is something that is great for society. I mean, it reduces waste and it puts things back to use. And I love a trend in a handful of cities where, once a month, people who have furniture that is not really sellable can put it out one time a month, and then it's their fair

• 2:31Speaker 02

  game for people to grab the furniture. And if it's not picked up overnight, it's scheduled, that's when the sanitation people come through and haul away the stuff. So it's finders keepers till that overnight, and then the stuff vanishes. And so people are thinking more and more about ways to reduce waste, reduce costs. And Krista, after you moved recently and Lain and I came to visit you, it was great because you gave a Clark kind of tour of your new place you're living.

• 3:15Speaker 02

  And you went through room by room and said, you know, I bought this on here, and I did that. And your stuff was overwhelmingly used, floor models.

• 3:27Speaker 03

  So yeah, Facebook Marketplace, a lot of stuff. And then, yeah, I did get a sofa that was an outlet sofa, like it was from an outlet of a manufacturer that I really liked. I guess somebody ordered it custom and then didn't want it or whatever, so it was returned. But it's a great sofa, very comfortable. And then I wanted a couple of comfortable, big swivel chairs, and I actually found those on Walmart.com. And they were really inexpensive, and they're so nice. You sat in one.

• 3:55Speaker 02

  They were great.

• 3:56Speaker 03

  They were great. And so I do love, I mean, to me, Facebook Marketplace is the ultimate. But also, I do love thrift stores, and I think going in and finding, it's just some people hate thrift stores and going into them. But you have to be the kind of person who's willing to dig and look around. And then I also love, for home stuff, I think Home Goods has a lot of great deals, too, especially the clearance stuff that they have.

• 4:19Speaker 02

  So I went through quite a thing. I do television for a number of stations around the country, and I wanted to do a story about people dumpster diving behind furniture stores. Because people have been doing that, and the lawyers wouldn't allow the story.

• 4:40Speaker 03

  Why?

• 4:41Speaker 02

  Because I was actively encouraging people to trespass.

• 4:46Speaker 03

  To jump into a dumpster.

• 4:48Speaker 02

  To trespass.

• 4:49Speaker 03

  At first, to dive in.

• 4:50Speaker 02

  To get stuff. It's amazing, because something will be returned by somebody, and for some reason, the retailer gives them a refund, depending on the circumstances. But then the item's not resellable.

• 5:03Speaker 03

  Hmm.

• 5:04Speaker 02

  And it goes in the dumpster behind the store. And I'm like, hey, they're keeping things out of the landfill, they're putting it to work. I like that. But the TV lawyer said, nope. So now I've done it right here. But I also think it would be cool if you posted, did a walk and talk.

• 5:26Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 5:27Speaker 02

  And said, you know, I bought this for blah, and I bought this blah, blah, blah, I did this on Facebook Marketplace. Because furniture is expensive.

• 5:35Speaker 03

  It's crazy. Oh, I did do one other thing. I don't even know if I told you this. You can, at the outlet store, I was at, the furniture outlet store, you can ask for additional discounts, and you get them often. So I got an additional discount, I think it was just an extra 10% on the sofa. But then I saw a file cabinet I wanted, and they thought it was broken. Like, it did seem broken, the drawer, one of the drawers wouldn't close. But I went inside and saw that, like, the dividers for the files were, like, stuck in there, and that was making the drawer stick. So I fixed it, and I was able to get it. But when I was walking by another sofa, a nail was sticking out, and it ripped my yoga pants. And so...

• 6:16Speaker 02

  I hope they weren't expensive yoga pants.

• 6:18Speaker 03

  They weren't cheap, but I talked to the manager, and I was like, I was trying to figure out what to do. And he said, how about if I give you $50 off of this file cabinet, another $50? And I said, how about $100? And he did it. So that was fun.

• 6:36Speaker 02

  All right. I still remember when we, 18 years ago, I guess it was, were on our annual staff trip, and we were in China.

• 6:46Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 6:48Speaker 02

  And you took a group of us out bargain shopping. And you spoke no Mandarin or Shanghaiese, and there you are.

• 6:58Speaker 03

  I spoke deal.

• 7:00Speaker 02

  Deal. You are bargaining with these people like I have never seen. I would never want to be on the other side of a transaction with you.

• 7:12Speaker 03

  Well, that's their game. They were all doing that. They were competing with each other, and I think it's just the way it works there.

• 7:17Speaker 02

  Not as much as it was then, but yeah. How about that? But how do you feel about doing the walk and talk?

• 7:25Speaker 03

  I'll do it. I have no problem with that.

• 7:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, because I think our viewers and listeners would really like to see how you save money on stuff.

• 7:35Speaker 03

  But I love the thrift store trend, I love the Facebook Marketplace trend, all of those things. Because another part of it, which I know we don't talk about much, but you are recycling things, you're using things instead of throwing, stuff that might end up in a landfill or in a dumpster. You know, I mean, it's, things can have a second life. And I've sold stuff as well recently. I've sold a bunch of stuff on Facebook Marketplace. And I met one guy, I'll never forget, I met him at a Starbucks to exchange what I was selling him. And I said something to him, but he said, oh, I'm a Facebook Marketplace junkie. This guy was probably like 25, and he was like, I buy and sell stuff all the time. Like, he was, he had light in his eyes from it, like, he loved it.

• 8:17Speaker 03

  So he basically buys and sells used stuff, and a lot of people are really into that side of things, too, the environmental impact part of it.

• 8:26Speaker 02

  All right, consumer warning. What are the things that are signs you're going to get scammed on Facebook Marketplace?

• 8:34Speaker 03

  Them asking for money before you get the item, for sure.

• 8:38Speaker 02

  And never wanting to meet you anywhere.

• 8:42Speaker 03

  Oh, a public place, yeah. You don't ship. I would never ship.

• 8:46Speaker 02

  Never ship.

• 8:47Speaker 03

  Mm-mm.

• 8:48Speaker 02

  Never ship. It's a different environment than if you're selling stuff on eBay.

• 8:53Speaker 03

  Actually, one thing I did do with Facebook Marketplace, I found a rug I really wanted at a city that's like an hour and a half away, and my nephew lives there. I knew he was coming home to visit his parents, so I had him go look and make sure it was legit. I did pay, and he hauled it home for me, for, I gave him a fee. So I did ship. Brooke in Wisconsin wrote in to you, Clark, and she said, I'm a single 32-year-old. I own a home. My monthly bills for my home are around $1,200. My mortgage is 725 with insurance and taxes included. My boyfriend lives with me and pays half of the mortgage and bills, so I'm really only paying $600 a month. I have run $68,000 in my savings total.

• 9:36Speaker 03

  I keep $5,000 in my Chase savings account and the rest in a high-yield savings account. I don't have a retirement account through work at all, or at all. I want to start investing my money safely. What should I do, and where do I start?

• 9:49Speaker 02

  All right, so Brooke, before I go to answer your question, I want to tell you, you are the lucky bug that your mortgage, with taxes and insurance included, $725 a month. I mean, there are people that are listening or watching right now, like, how do you do that? Because, I mean, the era of a really, really affordable mortgage payment is, it's a hard thing to do. Second, you've done a great job saving money.

• 10:29Speaker 02

  But what you're earning in savings, you're not really able to keep up with inflation. And you need to do long-term. So, all right, let's all say it together.

• 10:40Speaker 03

  Roth IRA.

• 10:44Speaker 02

  Roth IRA, Brooke, is what you want to open. And you're going to have such flexibility. You open it with one of my favorite children, which are the low-cost companies, where you open an account, there's no commission salespeople. The money is going directly into the investments you choose.

• 11:06Speaker 03

  Your favorite children are?

• 11:08Speaker 02

  I was going to get to that.

• 11:09Speaker 03

  Oh, I didn't think, I thought you forgot.

• 11:11Speaker 02

  Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab. With any of them, I'd want you to do what's known as the Target Retirement Fund. This is all explained, how you pick the right year Target Retirement Fund, put all the money in the Roth, and that, you're allowed to put in up to $7,500 a year. So you can actually move that much from your savings account, because you've got a lot of money in the high-yield savings account. Move 7,500 into it. And then every month going forward, you can keep contributing, starting in '27. You can start contributing again for next year.

• 11:52Speaker 02

  And what you're doing is you're building up tax-free money, where you don't have to pay tax on your earnings. And I've got a full explanation about how to do this on Clark.com, step-by-step, how to do a Roth IRA. And congratulations to you for having your finances in such great order.

• 12:16Speaker 03

  Pamela in Connecticut says, "A while ago, I asked a friend to add me as an authorized user on their credit card account. They have since defaulted on the account. The account is still on my credit report. The bank wants the card number in order to remove it, but I'm no longer on speaking terms with this person. What other way can I get this off my credit report?"

• 12:37Speaker 02

  Pamela, I've had this question before, many different wrinkles. So, every bank is different in how you go about the process. But you've added something so complicated, you were never supplied with the number. So, what people have had success with online, if customer no service has not been willing to help them, is because you have the right to not be an authorized user on somebody else's account. And people will do it not to benefit, this is the funny thing we never talk about. People will do it to punish somebody.

• 13:19Speaker 02

  If somebody has bad credit, and they have fallen out with somebody, they will add them as an authorized user to a card or cards, to trash, try to trash their credit.

• 13:31Speaker 03

  That's nasty, no.

• 13:33Speaker 02

  You didn't know that? No. Get on Reddit, you'll see a lot of stuff about, "What you should do to him is..." You know, it's like, really? Really?

• 13:45Speaker 03

  I don't know what kind of Reddit forums you're in.

• 13:50Speaker 02

  Sorry. All right. So, you go second pass with the bank. If the individual you get, like you did the first time, says, "Nope, nothing we can do", then you try again. And you talk to a different person. You ask to speak to a supervisor. If everything else fails, the way people who don't have a number for an account have been able to get it removed, is to talk to the fraud department at the bank. Because you don't have the number, you haven't used the card associated with, and you tell the fraud department, "Hey, this is on my report. I've got nothing to do with this."

• 14:34Speaker 02

  You don't fill them in on the whole crazy story. You just say, "Can you remove this from me?", which is what you do. Now, the fallback, that's not the book answer. The book answer is you contact the credit bureaus, and you tell them that you want this off your report. And depending on who you get at the credit bureaus, most often what they'll do is they'll only put on there that you have disputed this, but they don't remove it, which doesn't solve the problem of the negative being there. So that's why your big thing is to try every angle with the bank itself that is not being cooperative.

• 15:19Speaker 02

  I mean, somebody who says, "I don't want the right to charge on a card that I'm not responsible for", it is lunacy that a bank would not take care of that.

• 15:30Speaker 03

  Kathy in Texas says, "Can you advise if it's a credit rating problem? If my Discover monthly bill closes on, say, the 20th of each month, but is not paid until five days before the due date the next month, say, on the 15th or so? I have auto pay for this, and all of my credit cards have this seemingly perfect auto pay system for 20 years or so. Recently, my husband declared that this is unacceptable, and now wants to manually pay the balance a day or two after the monthly statement closes. As best I can tell, his issue is that after the statement closing, more spending happens, goes on the next statement, right? And that part is pending when the auto pay goes through. I tried showing him the months and months of previous bills

• 16:13Speaker 03

  indicating no late fees and no interest paid or accrued. He's gotten focused on the delay between the statement closing and when it's paid, and is now convinced it's late. What can I or you do to educate him?"

• 16:25Speaker 02

  All right.

• 16:26Speaker 03

  In other words, what can you do, Clark?

• 16:27Speaker 02

  So Kathy, I don't know what your husband's name is. So I'm going to say Kathy's husband. So as long as you have auto pay set up, you're paying the balance through auto pay, and it's closing things out before the next billing period, you will report the most important part of a credit report, that you have paid on time on that. No late payments, or no non-payments. So, from that standpoint, your husband is not right. Now, there is an angle here, and he didn't say it, but there is another angle.

• 17:09Speaker 02

  And that is, that if you manually pay not after the billing statement closes, but before it closes, it will raise your credit score. Because one of the indicators that makes up a credit score is what percent of your available credit you're using. So if you prepay before a closing date, you will raise your score. But if your score is just fine as it is, Kathy, and if you haven't checked, you don't know how to do so, Discover was the originator of showing you your credit score on their app, or signing into your account. So you'll know what your score is.

• 17:50Speaker 02

  And if your score is in a great zone, then keep doing exactly what you're doing. If your score could be a little higher, prepaying on the card before the billing cycle closes would have a benefit of raising your score. So, I hope I settled the argument with the two of you. So the way you could say it, if he doesn't take criticism very well, is you say, "Well, you know, I checked, and you're partially right, that there'd be a benefit to my score if we paid before the closing date, but doing what we're doing right now is not a negative for my score." Maybe that's how you say it. Don't know the dynamic.

• 18:35Speaker 02

  Anyway, coming up ahead, I've got something that could really help you when the chips are down, when you're on the road. And it's something that I started talking about many years ago, and then haven't really talked about it in a long time.

• 18:55Speaker 04

  Gifts mean more when they have the power to give more. They can inspire more discovery, give more confidence, and unwrap more of who you are. This Black Friday, give a gift that goes beyond the box, the Dell XPS 13 Laptop. With a beautiful design and cutting-edge performance, it helps you unlock more possibilities. It's the thinnest, lightest XPS Laptop yet, with touchscreen, a backlit keyboard, and long-lasting battery life to power you through your day. Built with a durable aluminum chassis weighing just 2.2 pounds, and Intel Core processors, it's fast, reliable, and portable enough to keep up wherever you go. Visit dell.com to explore the possibilities with XPS. While shopping, you'll also find great perks,

• 19:39Speaker 04

  like Dell Rewards, fast free shipping, premium support, and financing with flexible payment options. Plus, you can find great deals on monitors and accessories. That means you can score a whole new setup now for less. This Black Friday sale is one you don't want to miss. Head to dell.com/deals. That's dell.com/deals.

• 20:02Speaker 04

  Self-directed investing, trading, full-service wealth management, automated investing, financial planning, thematic investing, retirement planning. Few, and to think that's just a small taste of what Schwab offers. Because Schwab knows that when it comes to your finances, choice matters. No matter your goals, investing style, life stage, or experience, Schwab has everything you need, all in one place. So you can invest your way. Visit schwab.com to learn more.

• 20:27Speaker 01

  Hi, I'm Don McDonald from the Talking Real Money Podcast. Simple, honest financial advice is hard to find because there are too many people in the financial services industry and even the media who will do or say anything to get your money. Well, for decades, my co-host Tom and I have been trying to help people better manage money on the radio, TV, and in our podcasts. About five times a week, we share simple, low-cost advice on building the wealth you need to enjoy a better future without making your broker richer, and ironically, you broker. Listening to Talking Real Money could not be easier because you're already listening to a podcast. Just search for Talking Real Money on your podcast service or ask your smart speaker. Give us a try.

• 21:10Speaker 01

  You have absolutely nothing to lose, except a few minutes of time, and you might just discover something to help you enjoy a more prosperous and secure future, along with a simpler present. Just visit talkingrealmoney.com or search for Talking Real Money in this podcast service. It's that easy.

• 21:27Speaker 00

  Host Thanksgiving with industry-leading quality standards from Whole Foods Market. There are no antibiotics in their meat department, ever. So carve up turkey and spiral-cut ham with peace of mind. Shop organic sides like stuffing mix and cranberry sauce from 365 brand. And guess what? All their delectable pies are made with no high-fructose corn syrup. Gourmet Thanksgiving flavors with the quality you want, only at Whole Foods Market.

• 21:56Speaker 05

  This episode is brought to you by Netflix. Thanksgiving football starts a day early this year with the NFL's first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game. A total marquee NFC matchup. The Green Bay Packers take on the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in a primetime showdown. More football, more action, and a head start on one of the best weekends of the NFL season. Watch Packers versus Rams live on Netflix, Wednesday, November 25th, at 8:00 PM Eastern, 5:00 PM Pacific.

• 22:27Speaker 02

  I have a Tesla that I drive, and one of the things with the Tesla, there are cameras everywhere on that thing, and it's recording everything going on. And if you're in an accident and there's a question of establishing fault or responsibility, that video is going to be your friend or foe, but it's going to clearly show who is the one responsible. And there's something around the world that is just absolutely done that is still not a big thing here, and that's dash cams.

• 23:09Speaker 02

  Most cars aren't recording video like a Tesla. So you can get a dash cam from a very low-end one for about $20 to one that does so many different things, like the ones you'll see a lot of Uber and Lyft drivers having that's recording the passengers in the back if they're doing something crazy, and also recording what's going on outside. And the advantage of the dash cam is that insurers love, love following an accident. It's not your fault. They love to assign you minimal responsibility, 10%.

• 23:51Speaker 02

  And you're like, why are they holding me 10% responsible? Because it's the game the auto insurers play, so they can raise your rates. If they hold you any percent responsible in the accident, then it's an at-fault for you, plus for the other person who is actually probably really at fault. They have an at-fault, you have an at-fault. This is a two-for-one for the auto insurance industry. And also, people's memories are really not great. When it's hard for people to admit, hey, I'm the one who did it. I'm the one who messed up.

• 24:33Speaker 02

  I still remember a woman ran into the back of my car. She was really worried about her auto insurance. I said, well, when the police officer gets here, don't tell him that it was your fault. Let the officer decide. The officer says, so what happened here? And the woman who ran into the back of my car said, I ran in the back of his car. It's all my fault. Like, what are you doing? Anyway, she was a really nice lady, and she didn't know anything other than the truth. But seldom is it going to be like that. But with the dash cam, you've got it.

• 25:15Speaker 02

  Krista was in a wreck years ago, and the person who was found at fault kept trying to say, no, no, she came into my lane. It was her fault. And the officer watched the dash cam video that Krista had and said to the other guy. They all watched it together. And she said, and how's this her fault? And he just kind of dropped his head and said, okay. I mean, the dash cam is like your own insurance policy, dealing with your insurance company. Because that dash cam video is what is clearly somebody else's fault.

• 25:59Speaker 02

  It's going to eliminate this 90-10 thing, or 80-20, that insurers like to do so they can surcharge your rates, depending on the state, for who knows how many years, how much money. And so I hate that I even have to say this. Insurance companies didn't used to be the adversary, but they really have become more of that. And I just have to let you know that the dash cam is your buddy. Oh, and not to mention, you don't want a ticket you don't deserve from the police

• 26:41Speaker 02

  for saying, well, you know, your car, which is it usually car one that's cited as at fault? I forgot what the number is. Anyway, you don't want to be cited when it's not clear. When an officer says, I can't figure this out, I'm citing both of you. And then you got an at-fault accident and a ticket you got to deal with, and everything comes with that.

• 27:07Speaker 03

  All right, we'll go to questions now. Sharon in Georgia wants to buy a camera. She says, I would like to purchase a video doorbell camera with chime and audio, plus the ability to view on my iPhone without a monthly subscription fee. The question I have is, which brand should I look for that offer these features at a reasonable price?

• 27:26Speaker 02

  Oh, this has gotten a lot harder than it used to be. Because it used to be common, you could get a doorbell that did not come with a monthly subscription, but they really work that way now. I'm trying to think, is it TP-Link is the one that? Yeah, that's the one that has a number of them that do not require a monthly subscription. Did they? I'm looking right here. They changed their name to?

• 27:55Speaker 03

  No, I just bought a TP-Link Wi-Fi extender. I've never heard of them having a camera. Let me look.

• 28:02Speaker 02

  This comes up as TAPO? T-A-P-O? Oh, that's a brand of TP-Link.

• 28:08Speaker 03

  Oh, okay.

• 28:08Speaker 02

  So that's a brand of theirs. Okay, so I'm fumbling my way through this because I want to make sure I give you good information. And I remember in Consumer Reports, they recently did ratings of video cameras, doorbells without a subscription. And Ufy came up in their write-up, E-U-F-Y, is a company that came up as being good for having a video doorbell that you don't have to have a subscription and monitor on your iPhone or Android.

• 28:46Speaker 03

  Okay, Greg in Missouri says, I was reading the article on where to buy pet medications. Your advice was to shop around. I did, and I ended up in Australia with Pet Bucket.

• 28:58Speaker 02

  Wait a minute. I mean, I've talked about pet meds. For years, I've never, ever considered or thought you could order them overseas and save money. Did you ever hear of that?

• 29:12Speaker 03

  Nope. They carry the same prescription for my dog that my vet recommended. No prescription was needed, and the price was less than half the cost I could find in this hemisphere. It did take three weeks to arrive, but as far as I could tell, identical to the package I had previously purchased. I told my vet about Pet Bucket and asked her opinion. She said that the manufacturer may not cover any medical expenses that could occur from using their product not purchased locally. I have ordered from Pet Bucket for the past few years now and have been very happy with the service and products, and of course, the 50% off pricing.

• 29:45Speaker 02

  You know, with the government's new attempt to block people from saving money buying human drugs outside the United States, I wonder if you're going to find a problem in the future, Greg, with that being caught in that net of keeping out the human prescriptions to prevent people from saving money. Hopefully, that's not going to happen with the pet meds. But I'm fascinated because we buy all our pet meds from, you know, third-party sources, not from the veterinary practice. And it never occurred to me to check overseas.

• 30:24Speaker 03

  I know. I buy my dog's flea preventative at Costco, which is a prescription, but I save a ton of money buying it there.

• 30:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, some Costcos now have a big sign, shop your pet meds here or something like that.

• 30:37Speaker 03

  All right. Kevin in Ohio sent this in. My partner and I recently visited the Bay Area and we used Uber and Lyft as well as Waymo. We needed to take an Uber for a short late night, weeknight trip in the less busy area. So I was worried about getting a driver that would accept the trip. After a few minutes, a driver accepted the ride and show up. We took our seven minute trip to our Airbnb and a few minutes after we arrived, I got an email reporting that the driver reported we were drinking alcohol in his vehicle. It was not true, but there wasn't much I could do about this and it was considered a warning on my account. Later that night, I got another email saying the driver reported we spilled alcohol in his car and there was an additional $80 self-service cleaning fee charged to my debit card.

• 31:22Speaker 02

  Say what?

• 31:23Speaker 03

  Making the total almost $100 for a seven minute ride.

• 31:27Speaker 02

  Ugh.

• 31:28Speaker 03

  Through the alcohol report and then the cleaning charge, he was building a case to scam me out of the cleaning fee. I got in contact with Uber chat support and they were able to share a photo the driver submitted where it looks like he splashed some water around the backseat and claimed we spilled alcohol. It appears that AI is used to evaluate these claims and it awarded the driver the cleaning fee. The support was able to refund the cleaning charge, but it was a wake-up call about drivers abusing cleaning fees, which is not a new thing.

• 31:57Speaker 02

  Okay. You say that's not a new thing. I'm just gobsmacked. I didn't know that this was a thing. Is this a one-off?

• 32:05Speaker 03

  Me either. I don't know. I mean, maybe we'll hear from more people. I also had an incident with Lyft charging me for an e-bike rental when I just scanned the bike to check prices as it was the only way to do so. The Lyft support is also AI-driven and very frustrating. The best experience was with Waymo where there were no issues with shady drivers. It was a few dollars more than Uber or Lyft and Waymo's pickup location ended up a block away, but it was still preferable over the Uber and Lyft experience. So just a story. I just took my first Waymo recently and I loved it. I absolutely loved it.

• 32:41Speaker 02

  So this is, um, this is such a conundrum because there are a lot of people who are struggling financially and

• 32:50Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 32:51Speaker 02

  driving for Uber or Lyft or doing food delivery is a thing. And I've got now in my neighborhood, all these cutesy little food delivery robots.

• 33:03Speaker 03

  Robots, yeah.

• 33:04Speaker 02

  And they all have cute names and they run up and down the sidewalk and technology always marches on and the accident rate of Waymos, even though every time a Waymo does something stupid, it becomes a national story.

• 33:21Speaker 03

  Right.

• 33:22Speaker 02

  The accident rate is way lower than with human drivers. I mean, this is hard with the technology stuff, but this thing that we're talking about here with Kevin being charged falsely with having been drinking in the back of a car. People do drink, people throw up, you know, late at night in Ubers and Lifts and it's terrible for the driver. But making it up and saying people were drinking and spilling out water pretending it's alcohol? Wow.

• 33:57Speaker 03

  I know. Hopefully, hopefully it's not that common.

• 34:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:02Speaker 03

  I've never had it happen to me, but I'm not, I don't take those all the time.

• 34:06Speaker 02

  And you're not out at wee hours?

• 34:08Speaker 03

  No, I'm not. Definitely not.

• 34:09Speaker 02

  Yeah. I mean, I, I talked to Uber and Lyft drivers about, uh, so do you choose to do late night driving? And they'll tell me stories about what it's like.

• 34:25Speaker 03

  I'm sure it's brutal.

• 34:26Speaker 02

  With people that are wasted really late at night. It's like, wow, I am way too old.

• 34:33Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:34Speaker 02

  The only reason I'm up in the wee hours is if I can't sleep or I'm on an overnight flight.

• 34:40Speaker 03

  Right.

• 34:41Speaker 02

  Yeah. Anyway, that's enough for today and thank you so much for joining us and I hope something you heard today, saw today, helps you in your life, that you are able to put it to work in your life that provides you better protection or helps you make more money or whatever it is. That's our goal is empowerment through knowledge. So you can save more and spend less and avoid getting ripped off. And so look forward to visiting with you on Wednesday.

• 35:19Speaker 05

  This episode is brought to you by Netflix. Thanksgiving football starts a day early this year with the NFL's first ever Thanksgiving Eve game. A total marquee NFC matchup. The Green Bay Packers take on the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in a primetime showdown. More football, more action, and a head start on one of the best weekends of the NFL season. Watch Packers vs. Rams live on Netflix Wednesday, November 25th at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific.

• 35:49Speaker 06

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